William Rehnquist rumored to announce retirement Monday

[Brent]

End of the session... from The Associated Press

Drama Expected Monday In U.S. Supreme Court

POSTED: 6:57 am CDT June 26, 2005

UPDATED: 9:54 pm CDT June 26, 2005

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush is preparing for what could be his first Supreme Court vacancy.

With the High Court term due to end Monday and 80-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist battling cancer, speculation is rife he'll announce his retirement.

If he does, spokesman Scott McClellan said the president will be ready. He said officials have "prepared for that scenario" -- as any White House would.

Last week, Senate Democrats sent a letter to Bush urging him to choose a "consensus" nominee for any Supreme Court vacancy.

McClellan said Bush is prepared to hear the views of all senators -- but only after an opening actually occurs.

A Pew Research poll released June 15 found 57 percent of respondents still have a favorable view of the U.S. Supreme Court.

That marks an erosion, because for more than a decade, at least seven in 10 people viewed the court favorably.

After the court ruled that President George W. Bush won the 2000 election, 68 percent had a favorable view.

But Democrats grew more negative after that ruling. Now, 51 percent of Democrats have a positive view of the court.

The poll also found favorable opinions of the high court have dropped by 20 points among conservative Republicans and white evangelical Christians since January 2001.

Conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are most likely to say the selection of the next Supreme Court justice is very important to them personally.

[wx247]

Should be an interesting day from there. I saw a picture of Chief Justice this morning on the news and you can tell his health is failing rapidly. He looked so much worse than he did just a few weeks ago.